Battling smoke and smokescreen

COP11 in Geneva offered a timely reminder that the fight against tobacco is far from over.

When the world’s attention turned to Belém, Brazil, last month for COP30, the UN’s climate summit, the news was dominated by symbolism of the Amazon rainforest and heated debates on fossil fuels. There was also a strong yet unrequited call for climate justice. Almost simultaneously, however, another COP was unfolding in Geneva, Switzerland—the Eleventh Conference of the Parties (COP11) to the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC)—held from November 17 to 22. Though less noticed, COP11 was equally urgent.